Intermittent camera mechanism



' R. c. MCCLAYI 2,463,043

INTERMITTENT CAMERA MECHANISM March 1, 1949.

7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 15, 1945 s g; 5 v I w L g e. T

H INVENTOR.

I ROYAL C.MCLAY ATTORNEY March 1, 1949. c. MccuAY INTERMITTENT CAMERA MECHANISM 7 She ets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 13 1945 I INVENTOR. 5 ROYAL CM CLAY ATTokNEY March 1, 1949. R. c. M cLAY INTERMITTENT CAMERA MECHANISM 7 Sheets-:Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 13 1945 Flii ndE k l INVENTOR. ROYAL c. MC CLAY ATTORNEY March 1, 1949. R. Q'MCCLAY 2,463,043

INTERMITTENT CAMERA MECHANISM Filed Aug. 13, 1945 7 Sheets-Sheet 4.

IN VEN TOR. ROYAL C. M CLAY ATTORNEY March 1, 1949. Q c 2,463,043

INTERMITTENT CAMERA MECHANISM Filed Aug. 13, 1945 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. 5.

, INVENTOR. ROYAL C. M c CLAY ATTORNEY March 1, 1949.

Filed Aug. 13 1945 A R. c. M cLAY 2,463,043

INTERMITTENT CAMERA MECHANISM 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR. I ROYAL c .M cLAY ATTORNEY March 1,1949. R. c. McCLAY' INTERMIT'IENT CAMERA MECHANISM 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed Aug. 13 1945 INVENTOR. ROYAL C. M CLAY ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 1, 1949 ammo I We

INTERMITTENT CAMERA, MECHANISM mm:- c. MoOIay, Burblnk, cant, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application August 1:, 1945, Serial No. 610,614

1 Claims. (CI. 88-18.!) y

The present invention ticularly a motion picture camera and has for an object to provide an improved film traversing mechanism and an improved drive mechanism therefor which are quiet in operation.

The usual motion picture camera is so noisyin operation that it is necessary. to provide a blimp,

or a special sound-proof casing to suppress the noise of the working parts of the camera, when the camera is used in the neighborhood of a microphone for the synchronous recording of sound and picture.

The present invention relates to an improved camera drive mechanism which is quiet in opera.- tion whereby the sound proofing heretofore rerelates to a camera, par- I I Fig. dis a perspective parts broken away with the lid removed.

Fig. 7 is a rear view in elevation of the combined shutter and viewfinder mechanism. v Fig. 8 is a schematic view in elevation of viewfinder.

, Referring in detail'tothe drawings, thecamera I of this invention comprises a rectangular fluid quired may be substantially reduced or eliminated 1 entirely. V a

The invention is accomplished by employing spiral gears to drive certain of the camera parts and in particular by employing rocking shafts to drive the film pull-down and register mechanism, with cams and cam rollers for imparting rocking movement to the rock shafts. Such cams and their followers, also spiral gears are quiet in their. operation, and a low noise level is'further assured by arranging such mechanism in a lubricating well.

Another feature of the invention relates to an improvement made possible by the use of such cams, and to an improved pull-down mechanism, whereby it is possible to obtain a full shutter opening or photographic rest period of the film, for substantially more than 180.

The improved viewfinder and adjustable shutter and the drive therefor are disclosed and claimed in co-pending application S. N. 810,613,

. moving parts.

rows with parts broken away and with the lid on the camera.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the camera, with the objective lens broken away and with the cover of the camera with its viewfinder removed.

Fig. 4 is a front view in elevation on line H of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 5 is a rear view in elevation with notations A to E added thereto.

tight casing 2 serving 'asa lubricating well for a fluid lubricant, the driving mechanism for the reciprocating shutter 3 (see Figs. 1', 2, 3, 4 and 7) and for the pilot pin or register mechanism 4 (see Fig. 6) and for the claw or pull-down-mechanism 5 and for the common supply and take-up sprocket 6 (see' Fig. 1), being arranged in the lubricating well provided by the casing 2. Referring to Fig. 2 which shows a vertical section of the casing 2, fluid lubricant may be placed therein to a height of approximately one-quarter or oneflfth of the height of the casing 2, so that moving parts therein will pick up -Motion picture film 1, from a supply reel, not. shown, is threaded over the topsoff common sprocket 6 in Fig. 1 and is held thereon by a suitable pad roller 8, then at the back of exposure aperture plate member 9 to the lower side of.

sprocket 6 where it is held thereon by asuitable pad roller Ill, the film then passing to a take-up,

reel, not shown.

Secured in front of the front of casing 2, by

means-of rods such as II, is a bracket plate I! r I having a suitable lens turret or objective lens 13 having a focusing adjustment, not shown. The plate [2 as partially indicated at the top left portion of Fig. 6 and as further shown in Fig. 8 carries an angle bracket it which carries a stationary mirror i5 facing downwardly at 45 to reflect light from the two reciprocating mirrors I 6,

and I1 shown in Fig, 4-to the viewfinder [8 which is mounted by suitable brackets such as I 9 on the lid 20 of the camera, as shown in Fig. 8. .Lid 20 is removably held in position by means such as screws 2|. v

As shown in Figs. 1,2 and 3, the mirrors l6 and I! slide across the optical axis through lens l3 and the exposure aperture 22 in the aperture plate 9, and mirrors [6 and I! face lens I3 at an angle of 45 and at certain times reflect the photographic light coming through the lens l3, to the stationary mirror IS in Fig. 8 to reflect it through the viewfinder l8, whereby the scene may be viewed in the viewfinder 18 during the time that the scene is photographed on the film I.

view of the camera with oil and carry it to other The light which exposes the film l, as shown I in Fig. 4, passes between the adjacent ends of mirrors i6 and I1, through an inverted U-shaped .hood 23, painted black to prevent reflectionp Hood 23 is, of course, open at its front and rear ends to transmit light from lens l'3 to the film 1 during that time when the hood 23 is in front of the exposure aperture 22, the transmission of such light being further controlled by a shutter 24. Mirrors l6 and I1 are arranged, at the front, and shutter 24 is'arranged at the rear of a combined shutter and mirror, slide 25 having as shown in Fig. 4 slide bearings 26 which slide on a rod 21, and slide bearings 28 which slide on a rod 29.

The'rods 21 and 29 are supported in a parallel horizontal position at the front of the camera by suitable brackets 38 and 3|. The hood 23 between the mirrors l6 and I1 is also carried on the front of the slide 25.

' The shutter 24 'as shown in Fig. 7 comprises --two sheet metal pieces or leaves 32, 33, the adjahanging edges 36; 31 which may be-berit over from the body of the slide 25 to-provide a groove or space in which the leaves 32, 33 may slide. Leaf 32 has an extension 38 pivotally connected c to one end of a lever 39 as indicated at 48 and leaf 33 has an extension 4i pivotally connected to the other'end of lever 39 as indicated at 42. The extensions 38 and 4| at their inner ends are parallel to and guided for straight line movement by a block 43 which is integral with the slide 25.

The central portion of lever 39 is fixed to a crank .44 journaled in block 43, the crank 44 having a handle 45 atthe front of'the slide 25 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The handle 45 is swung in one direction or the other to open or close the shutter 24, for example by means of an eccentric shaft 46, the handle 45 being held in engagement with the underside of shaft 46 by means. of a suitable spring 41. .Shaft 46 is raised or lowered to operate handle 45 by being rotated through a 4 12 on a sprocket shaft 13 which extends at right angles to the countershaft 82 and drive shaft 66 and is joumaled'in the side wall 58 and also in the side wall 14. Sprocket shaft 13 extends through side wall 58 and the common sprocket 6 is fixed thereon. a

- Fixed to the drive shaft 66 is a pair of parallel spaced disc cams 16, 16 which impart rocking movement to a rock shaft 11 journaled in the side wall 58 below the drive shaft 68 and extending at rightangles thereto. As shown in Fig. 2.

.shaft 11 at the rock .shaft 11 has, in the lubricating well, axles 18; 19 which extend at right angles with the axis of shaft 11, and carry cam rollers 89 and 8| which engage the peripheries of and are actuated by the cams 15 and 16, respectively. As shown in Figs. 2 and 6 the contour of cam 15 is different from the contour of 16 and the radius of each thereof varies around the circle in such manner as to cause rocking movement of the proper timein the rotation of the drive shaft 66.

Rocking shaft 11 on the outside of the side wall 51 is fixed to a crank 82 carrying at one end a counterweight 83 and at the other end con- I nected by a connecting rod or link 83' to the claw back plate 81 and aperture plate 9 comprise a movement mounting plate removably secured to the outside of the side wall 58 by means such as screws I82.

The upper end of the claw frame 85 carries a bracket 89connected by a connecting rod 90 to a crank 8| on a. rock shaft 92 on the outside of the side wall 58. Rock shaft 92 is similar to the one previously described, except that it is small angle, and it may be rotated by a pulley 48' 7 having a'suitable belt, not shown. which 'niay extend to the rear of the camera.

a The slide 25 is reciprocated by'a connecting the outside of the front wall 53 of the camera.

Crank 52 is rocked back and forth by a rock shaft 54 journaled as indicated at in the front wall journaled as indicated at 93 in the side wall 58 above the driveshaft 66 where it carries, similar to that previously described, cam rollers 94 and 95 which engage two parallel spaced disc cams 96, 91, respectively, fixed to the drive shaft 66.

The rock shaft 92, through the crank 9|, imparts in and out movement to the claw 84.

Rock shaft 92 also has an opposite crank 98 connected by a connecting rod or link 99 to the register pin bracket ['88 to move the register pins v I II I in and out at the proper time.

53 andalso journaled as indicated at 56 in a-web 51 which is secured to the side wall 58 by means such as bolt 59. Rocking movement'is imparted to shaft 54 by a connecting rod (Fig. 3) connected to a spiral "gear6l on a countershaft 62 well, being .iournaled' as indicated at 61 in thefront wall 53 and as indicated at 68 in the rear wall 69. The drive shaft '66 extends through the rear wall 69 as indicated at 18 and is connected.

to a suitable motor or hand crank, not shown, for counter-clockwise rotation. The countershaft 62 extends lengthwise of the casing 2, parallel to-thedrive' shaft-166 and-it carries a spiral gear-1i which drives 'a spiral gear By reason-of the fact that the claw 84 is moved up and down by a rocking movement of the rock shaft 11, and partly because the length of crank 82- is rather long, at least as compared to the length'of cranks 9| and 98, it is apparent that the cams 15 and 16 need rotate through only a comparatively small angle to impart the up or down movement to claw 84, thereby leaving substantially more than during which time the film may be held stationary in the camera by the pilot pins II, to be impressed by the photographic into adjoining sectors or positions. In position A.

the claw is out and just before the beginning of its pull-down stroke, the pilot pins I iii are in, and

the shutter 3 is closed but hii sthot quite reached I the end of 'its stroke to In position B'the film is engagedby the claw at the beginning of its pull-down stroke, the

register pins are out and the shutter is closed. The film ispulled down" from B 1:00, at the end of which the iilin is disengagedby theclaw, the pilot pins are starting to move in and the shutter Y is beginning to open. The claw is disengaged at the bottom of its stroke at position 0 and is re.

' turned to the top of its stroke about 90 after C.

- be exposed over that the left as seen in Fig.4."

side of one of said end walls, a spiral gear in said :casing onsaid drive shaft, a countershaft in said w casing having a companion spiral gear, a sprocket shaft journaled ln said side walls and spiral gears in said casing connecting said sprocket shaft to said countershaft, said sprocket shaft extending to the exterior of one of said side walls and having a film sprocket thereon outside of said one side wall,a pair of cams insaid casing on said drive shaft, a rock shaft journaled in said one side wall and extending to opposite sides thereof at one side of 'said drive shaft, said rock shaft having an inner end having a cross head having tically in line with the optical axis of the lens I! I and'the outer end of said rock shaft, a second pair of cams in said casing on said drive shaft, a secand while the stationary mirror I5 is wider than the hood 28. only a portion of the image on the adjacent ends of mirrors i8 and I1 is reflected into mirror li'at that time. However, mirror il iscentered with mirror i5v shown in Fig. .8, when relation with mirror l5. Also, mirror ldis cen tered with mirror I5 when spur gear 6| has revolved 180 from the position above described and shown in Fig. 3 where link 60 is again at its a cam rollerfor each of said cams, a film gate at the outside of said casing, said film gate having a filmreg'istering mechanism, an operative connection between said film registering mechanism side of said side wall for said film gate, driving connections between both of said rock shafts and said pull-down mechanism, a shutter shaft in said casing journaled in said end walls, spiral gears in said casing connecting said drive shaft to said shutter shaft, and'a shutter'outside of said casing maximum distance away from the axis, of shaft.

62 and for about 90 around that position, 'mir'-'- ror I 6 also remains in're'flective relation to mirror II. From testson a model constructedandarranged as shown in the drawings, it hasbeen determined that the mirrorsdG and I! remain in reflective relation to the mirror It and viewfinder i8 for a sumcient length of time to' enablethe operator to view thescene being photographed.

'As the mirrors i6 and I! intercept the optical axis between the photographic lens l3 and the,

butg

connected to saidshutter'shaft, said spiral gears andsaidcams and cam followers and their location in said casing which serves as a lubricating well comprising means contributing to quiet oporation.

2. A'came'ra-casing having aside wall, an exposure aperture plate with film registering mechanism and pull-down mechanism therefor out- 40 side of saidside wall, a pair of non-sliding rock shafts extending through said side wall transversely to the filnr path across said aperture plate, means'outside of said casing for operatively connecting one of said-rock shafts to said film registering mechanism'flmeans outside of said casing for operatively. connecting both of said rock shafts to said pull-down mechanism, and

means insideof said casing for imparting rocking the shutter opening through the hood 23, they intercept the light beam only at those times when the shutter 24 is closed and the light beam is; not

employed for photographing purposes. The film is pulled down at each end of the stroke .of slide quiet in operation and this is due to the employ-- ment of rock shafts such as 11 and 93 for driving the film traversing mechanism, such shafts being driv'enby rotatable cams. employ spiral gears. Such spiral gears and cams Other drive elements movement to said rock shafts.

1 3. A'camera having an exposure aperture plate with register pins and a claw therefor, a pair of non-sliding rock shafts, means connected to one of said rock shafts for operating said reg- .iste'r means in. and out, means connected to said one rockshaft for operating said claw in and out,.and means connected to said other rock shaft for operating said claw up and down.

are quiet in operation and are arranged in a lubrieating well to provide constant lubrication to 1 the working parts.

Pads such as I03 may be arranged at thebottom of the lubricating well to catch grit'or particlesof dirt in the lubricating fluid.

It will be apparent that various modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit of the following claims. a

I claim:

1.'A camera comprising a casing serving as a 4. A camera according to claim 3 wherein said otherfrock shaft which operates said claw up and down is positioned farther away from said aperture plate than said one rock shaft which moves up and down at high speed with a small angular movement of said other rock shaft.

5. A camera having a pivoted claw frame,

- means supporting said frame for pivotal moverocking movement about its axis, said journals supporting said shafts substantially parallel to operates said claw in and out, whereby said claw I aseaoss shaft, and cam means on each other". a drive said drive shaft for rocking each of said rock shafts in its said journal.

.6. A camera having a film movement. means for operating said movement comprising a rock shaft, an operative connection between said shaft and said movement, an axle secured to and extending cross wise of said rock shaft at opposite sides thereof, a roller on each ofsaid axles and a drive shaft extending crosswise of said rock cams, the periphery of each of said cams engaging one of said rollers, said cams having dissimilar contours for imparting rocking movement from the outside of said side wall in line with said sprocket, 'a, pair of non-sliding rock shafts Journaled in said side wall transverse to the film path across said aperture, operative connections between said rock shafts and said claw, a shutter shaft extending through said well and Joumaled v in said casing, a drive shaft in said well, and

- shaft, said drive shaft having two parallel disc driving connections in said well between said drive shaft and said sprocket shaft, said rock shafts and said shutter shaft.

ROYAL C. McCLAY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,336,441 Parkes Apr. 13, 1920 1,360,341 Williams Nov. 30, 1920 1 1,891,585 Vinten Dec. 20, 1932 1,976,338 Fritts Oct. 9, 1934 2,374,318

Wurger Apr. 24, 1945 

